Lady Chukar soccer team making history
TVCC women’s soccer competing in first ever postseason game
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:00 AM PST
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| The Treasure Valley Community College women’s soccer team will make history today as it competes in the school’s first-ever postseason women’s soccer game. The Lady Chukars will battle Whatcom in th e first round of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges tournament. The game is slated to kick off at 2 p.m. MST. |
Ontario — For the first time in Treasure Valley Community College history, the women’s soccer team is playing in the postseason.
The TVCC women finished in third place in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges East division with a 14-6 record and 42 points, just behind Columbia Basin, which finished in second with 45 points and a 14-3-3 mark. Winning the East division was Walla Walla, which went unbeaten in 2008 with a 20-0 record and 60 points.
The Lady Chukars ended the regular season with a 4-1 push with wins over Yakima (4-0), Wenatchee (3-1), Columbia Basin (1-0) and Spokane (5-0). Their lone loss came against Walla Walla (3-0).
TVCC is in the lower bracket of the NWAACC tournament along with Skagit Valley (9-7-4) and the No. 3 seed from the North division, Columbia Basin and the No. 2 seed from the East division.
Both Bellevue (13-4-3) and Clackamas (12-5-3) received first round byes in the tournament. With a win, TVCC will move on to play Clackamas Saturday. The Lady Chukars have lost twice to Clackamas, 2-0 in the season opener and then 3-1 on Sept. 27.
TVCC has not played against Whatcom Community College this season, and Lady Chukar head coach Ryan Masingill said he is expecting Whatcom to be a solid team.
“I have not seen them play this year, but they do have a lot of club soccer players on their team,” Masingill said. “I do not do much scouting because we like to impose our will on the opposing team. We don‘t adjust for the opposition. We want them to adjust to what we are doing.”
Masingill said his team will have to start out smart without making any mistakes, then get into the rhythm his team likes to play.
“We are still a little mistake-prone early in games, especially right after a goal has been scored by either team,” Masingill said. “We have to keep our focus and not get caught up in emotional swings from either scoring a goal or giving up a goal. We must remain emotionally balanced.”
The TVCC players enter the tournament in good health, and Masingill does not expect to make any unusual changes.
“I don’t know if I have had the same lineup in any two games this year,” the coach said. “But I like to go with the hot hands, and that will be the approach in this tournament.”
With the game being played on turf instead of grass, Masingill said he is not concerned about the surface change. The team practiced on turf Tuesday morning at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, and Masingill said his players looked real good.
“We will need to play solid defense first. Then we will need to have that attacking style of offense that we have played all year,” he said. “We do not want to play from behind on the road in the rain, which is a very difficult thing to do.”
TVCC will kick off at 2 p.m. MST.
